Hubris or Humility? Choose wisely and prosper.

My pal Starbucker offers this killer post about humility called, Starbucker on Leadership: The Welcome Return of Humility. Here's a wee snippet:

It’s as if all of these executives ignored the existing conventional wisdom of achieving sustained business greatness - the blend of will and humility Jim Collins refers to in his book  “Good to Great” as “Level 5 leadership” - in the misguided belief that they alone had all the answers, and that any show of restraint, or for that matter, expansion of the inner circles to thoughtfully and inclusively debate and discuss strategy and vision, and risk and reward, and the long term versus the short term, was nothing more than a waste of time.

I agree with Starbucker on this one, for sure. One of the most important aspects of sageness is humility (shameless plug here: go preorder Hip and Sage on Amazon today - thanks). But seriously, there is no better way to show leadership that to show your humanility. To proudly and empathetically be a beautifully flawed and constantly learning professional. Humility is a simple but elegant emotion and act that comes from valuing others and seeing yourself as part of - not separate from - a larger whole.

As I have aged, I have honed my ability to sniff out those who are out for only themselves - I bet you have, too. These people are missing the point of achievement and most certainly have a hollow personal definition of success.

Hey, I love money and I love success. But I hope I never stray from thinking that success comes when I can do great work that contributes to others or an organization - and is often achieved when I am great as part of a group effort.

And I agree with Starbucker's strong close to the post - we are not alone. The world does not revolve around us and we are not pulling all the strings. But we can all be great leaders and contribitors with a healthy perspective and when we practice humility.

Comments

[kare Anderson]

Thomas Merton once wrote, “Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” And someone else said, “humility is the only certain defense against humiliation.’

[Lisa Haneberg]

Kare - I LOVE that second quote, for certainly almost all of my humiliations have been linked to a lack of humility.